Apparatus for agitating materials



Feb. 9, 1954 w. A. KLINE ET AL 2,668,694

APPARATUS FOR AGITATING MATERIALS Filed July 21, 1951 Win -.1

IN VEN TORS W/llI/JM ASHZEYKL/NE JOHN ALEXANDER MON/CK BY EL/O EL/AK/MTARIKA ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 9, 1954 Teaneck, and: Elio' Eliakim fie;N. J assignors tocolgate- PahnoIiVe Peet ompany Jersey City, N; J., a

corporation. of; Delaware alililic tiqn J $1, 5 SpriaLNafiBllt 2Glaims(c1. asset-9e):

he es nt er ntiiqni relates to alasxams. f agitating'materials and hasparticular reference to a aratus eiiee i elt mi ng b en n prp i a, amate ia s. v heav enemidal 1 are saensie i i eav liquid: e ic s seb s ememimisr are t 2 s we lm re ti s 32 ni xina ad ne. s aq.-. 2; ear n tc-11. ma e al to pi ly smagma nd n -f m r i ribute ny Sol ds. th h a hi vor mbeenequsly m x. flu d Q varied-"specific gravity or viscosity e d ei hj t e er sepi inv i t ere. s P es noveli ae er t s er mi i mate.-rials which'comprises a suitable chamber, prefer-l ably of cylindricalshape, adapted t q hold. a mass of; t r er eq i d. desir s said; chambermay beof} suflicientstrength to withstand high pressure and itmay beprovided with-means'to' heat or-coo1-it external l3 A rotat able shaftis; axial-1y mounted within saidchamber upon which a plurality ofimpellers are; mpnnteg; Means are provided within and; near one endqfisaidchamber' adapted to cooperate: with one off said: impellers toeffectively shear; the materials being: agitated:

The apparatusimparts turbulent motion to sures thoroug-h mixing andblending of materials" the mass;

In order-to indicateeven more fully the ad--- vantages and;capabilities; of the; present inven tien, reference ismade tothefollrjwinedescr-ipaim; takenin conjunction-- with the accompanymedrawing-which bywayof illustration shows a. preferred: embodiment: ofthe novel apparatus. It will be understood thatother embodiments; of

the invention employing the same orequivalentpr-inciples may be usedandthatstructural' 5 0 2;. changes may be made as; desired without:depart;- ing from the: present invention; and the purview of theappended, claims; In the drawing; similar reference characters; are;used" to designate cor responding parts ineach; of the several figures;

In t e. d a a Fig. 1 is a view in vertical sectional'elevation of anapparatus in accordance. with, a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention and Big. 2 is a, sectional view of the apparatus" as takenalong line 22 oi Fig; 1;, looking in, the direction of the arrows.

Referring first; to Fig 1; of the, drawing the apparatus comprises a.generally" cylindrical; chamber 8 having; a cylindrical side wall $9, adomed bottom wall- I 2 and a, cover plate- Mgjthe; latter being;provided with one or more material le o enin s it (one wn. a sieh nel s-8,: and a manhole 20. Chamber 8 is provi'dechwith; a jacket 22 avingain1 t 24, and an outlet 26 for heating; r-cooling fluid. Bottom wall"I2; is provided with a suitable material; outlet openinge. g flush;valve 28'. A thermo well; 30 isl'ocateglat any convenient position, inside wallf l0;

A rotatable, shait 32: comprising a rotatable longitudinallg' extendinginterior m mber 34' and a rotatable exteriorlsg. surrounding sleeve mem;ber 36, the latter being; of; somewhat shorter xtensi n and: ad pted; jate a a p i lferent, from the, former, passes axially through chamber 8.Interior member 34' is journaledin; bottom wall' l2 ofsaidf chamber in asuitable bearing; (18 adaptedsto bear the-thrust of the shaft; Sleevemember 36 is". journaled in a bearing-401 which is axially mounted"within cover plate M d: which apted.- to bear. e thrust f-saidv sleevemember; Both bearings 38; and 4B: are; constructed: so; as to resistleakage of liquids; underoperating pressures; Member 34 is providedwith;a: longitudinally extending key 44; the function of which" will bedescribed more fully hereinafter. Members 34 and 8610f shaft-32 may bedriven in any suitable manner: Forexalnple, inthe preferred embodimentof the invention; I interior" member 34 is driven through spur gearsdfi-bya motor 48- mounted on; a bracketsecured tochamber-8 Exterior member3 fiisdriventh-rough: bevel gears 52 bya motor idimounted ona bracl'eeti5G secured"to chamber ti As shown-on thedraw within a gear box 58mounted on a bracket 59 secured to chamber 8.

A stator 60 is mounted within chamber 8 near the domed bottom wall l2thereof by a plurality of brackets 62 secured to side wall I 2 of saidchamber. As shown more clearly in Fig. 2 stator 60 comprises an annularmember 64 provided with a plurality of vertically projecting bafllemembers or vanes 66.

An impeller 68 is positioned within the opening defined by annularmember 64 and vanes 66 of stator 60 and is mounted on interior member 34of shaft 32 for rotation therewith. Said impeller is provided with anintegrally formed collar 10 having a locking member, e. g., a set screw12, adapted to engage keyM on interior member 34 to prevent longitudinalmovement of the impeller along said member. Impeller 68 is furtherprovided with a plurality of generally radially extending blades 14which are preferably of,

sufficient length whereby the same may rotate freely within the openingdefined by vanes 66 of stator 60 with only slight clearance to effect ashearing action of the materials being agitated. As indicated on thedrawing, blades 14 preferably are curved in a direction opposite totheir direction of rotation. If desired, however, said blades may besubstantially non-curved or straight.

A second impeller 76 is mounted on interior member 34 of shaft 32 forrotation therewith at any convenient position above impeller 68.Impeller I6 is provided with an integrally formed collar 18 having alocking member, e. g., a set screw 89, adapted to engage key 44 onmember 3 to prevent longitudinal movement of the im peller along saidmember. Key 44 is further adapted to cooperate with slots or grooves(not shown) in impellers 68 and 16 to inhibit relative rotative movementof the same upon member 34.

Impeller 16 is further provided with a plurality of generally radiallyextending blades at which may be disposed in a plane parallel to that ofwall II! of chamber 8 or in any plane not greater than about 45 from theplane defined by said wall. A third impeller 82, similar in structure toimpeller H3, is secured to the end of sleeve member 36 of shaft 32.

In using the novel apparatus herein described the materials which are tobe mixed, blended, processed, etc., are introduced into chamber 8through material inlet openings I6 located in cover plate l4. Motors 48and 54 then are started to cause members 34 and 36 of shaft 32 andimpellers 68, "I6 and 82 to rotate.

A portion of the mass of materials being agitated by impeller 68 iscaught between the baffles 66 of stator 60 and the ends of blades 14 ofthe impeller where the same is subjected to a shearing action wherebycontiguous parts of the mass are caused to slide relative to one anotherto become mixed. Another portion of the mass is thrown against bafiies65 with an impact force sufiicient to effectively break up any largelumps 4 ture may be withdrawn conveniently through flush valve 28.

As indicated hereinbefore, the novel apparatus of the present inventionis capable of widespread application in mixing, blending, processing,etc., various materials possessing similar or different physicalcharacteristics. The apparatus herein described may be used extensivelyfor forming homogeneous intimate blends or mixtures of any of thevarious kinds and types of materials used in the detergent, textile,cosmetic, dye, p1astic, leather, et'c., industries. In the detergentindustry alone, for xample, the apparatus may be used to thoroughly mixsoap and/or synthetic detergent slurries during as well as afterformulation, to obtain adequate mixing of viscous soap and/or detergentslurries; to allow for the incorporation of powdered solids intoslurries without lump formation due to hydration; etc.

While there has been described what is considered at present to be thepreferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood, of course,that man modifications and changes a d substitutions may be made thereinwithout departing from the true scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for agitating materials comprising in combination, achamber adapted to contain a mass of material, said chamber having agenerally cylindrical side wall and a bottom wall, a longitudinallyextending shaft movably mounted within said chamber, said shaft havingan interior member andanexteriorly surrounding sleeve member, the sleevemember being of shorter extension than the interior member, means forrotating the sleeve member in the same direction as and at a slowerspeed than said interior member, at least one impeller mounted on each.of said members, said impellers being,

spaced apart a substantial distance and having a plurality of bladesextending outwardly fromsaid shaft, each impeller being adapted topermit the materials being agitated to pass through the,

chamber between the blades of each impeller, and means mounted near thebottomwall of said chamber adjacent to one of said impellers adapted tocooperate with the rotating blades of said adjacent impeller to shearthematerials beng agitated, said means comprising an annular member anda plurality of vertically projecting, radially extending baflle members,said annular member being secured to the upper edges of said bafflmembers and being of a width suflicient to cover only saidbafilemembers, leavingthe blades of said adjacent impeller uncovered.

2. An apparatus for mixing materials comprising in combination, achamber adapted to contain a mass of material,said chamber having agenerally cylindrical side wall and a domed bottom wall, a pair ofconcentric mixer shafts axially mounted within said chamber, the innershaft being of longer extension than the outer shaft, means for rotatingsaid shafts in the same direction at different speeds, at least, one im.

peller mounted on each of said shafts, said impellers being spacedaparta substantial distance and being provided with a plurality ofblades extending radially outwardly from-said shaft,- each impellerbeing adapted to permit the materials being agitated to pass through thechamber between the blades of each impeller, and an an-' 5 said dischaving a, plurality of vertically projecting, radially extending bafflemembers secured to its lower surface and being of a width sufficient tocover only said baffle members, leaving the blades of said adjacentimpeller uncovered.

WILLIAM ASHLEY KLINE. JOHN ALEXANDER MONICK. ELIO ELIAKIM TARIKA.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberNumb er Name Date Smith et a1 Mar. 11, 1890 Guldbeck Aug. 22, 1922Vollrath June 28, 1938 Simpson July 23, 1940 Marvel Oct. 8, 1940 FOREIGNPATENTS Country Date Germany Sept. 25, 1877

